The discovery of the ‘Royal Tomb’ on the upland plateau of described by me in Archaeologia in 1906, has had an important sequel. a quarter of a mile farther north of the same headland, on the edge of the that here overlooks the site of the ancient harbour-town of Knossos, a Minoan tombs has since been unearthed, some of which throw a wholly on the sepulchral cult in vogue during the earlier part of the Late Minoan One tomb indeed, that of ‘the Double Axes’, to be described below, points of structural and religious interest to a degree altogether among the early sepultures of the Aegean lands.

In the choir aisles of the Cathedral Church of Wells there is a series of recumbent effigies of Saxon bishops, which have not received the attention they deserve. Solemn figures, boldly sculptured, with a rich variety of dress and pose, they are the equals in grace and dignity of the famous statues on the west front. They are far better preserved, for they have not been worn by the weather, and apart from some accidental breakages they are in excellent condition. If they do not come from the great sculptors who wrought the figures outside, they are the work of their fathers before them, and they have something to tell us of the development of English carving in the west. Not less interesting than their art i s the history of the successive changes of name and of position which they have undergone in the course of seven centuries.

This carving has been photographed and cast by the courtesy of the Warden of New College, into whose possession it came some years ago from a tenant of the college, Mr. William Harris, of Stanton St. John, Oxfordshire. His family had been college tenants for many years, the names of members being found in the parish registers as early as the year 1667. There is no record to show how it came into the possession of the Harris family, but it was certainly in their farm-house over sixty years ago.

So much has been written about the abbey church of Westminster and the historical monuments wherewith it is filled that to most people it may seem superfluous to write anything more about it. But as a matter of fact the Abbey and its church are still an architectural and archaeological mine that has really been little worked scientifically, and it is for that reason that I venture to lay before the Society of Antiquaries, which has always had a special interest in Westminster Abbey, some notes upon the funeral, the tomb or monument, and the chantry chapel of King Henry V.

The joint investigation of the deposits belonging to the 100-ft. terrace of the river Thames was continued last year under the same auspices as in 1912 at certain spots in the neighbourhood of Greenhithe and Crayford, respectively east andwest of Dartford, Kent. Special facilities were again afforded by the Trustees ofthe British Museum and the Director of the Geological Survey; but the fund drawn on for this work is under the control of Sir Hercules Read, who in his dual capacity as President of the Society and Keeper of the British and Medieval Departmentof the British Museum is anxious to sustain the effort that is being made to bring archaeology into touch with geology, and is at the same time gratified to enlist the sympathies of unofficial workers by having the report presented to the Society.

The horn, belonging to the Marquess of Northampton, is in some respects the most remarkable of its class, the class, that is, of the so-called oliphants, which, as far as our evidence goes, were made between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. The style and character of its ornament place it among the rarest and finest examples known; even the serious damage which it has suffered in the course of years cannot rob it of this distinction.

A number of ancient brooches on the penannular principle is to be seen in the British Museum and the National Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh, as well as in the National Museum at Dublin, where most are naturally preserved, as the type is predominantly Irish. It is not surprising to find that the ends of the hoop are frequently joined, thus rendering the ordinary name in a strict sense inapplicable, but it will be convenient to include as penannular those, generally of the middle period, that have evidently been developed from the standard pattern but have a different arrangement of the pin owing to the fusion of the terminals. The penannular group of brooches includes specimens which, if considered apart, would hardly betray any common features; but the existence of many intermediate stages renders a logical and chronological sequence possible, and an attempt will be made to give some degree of precision in place of the unsupported guesses of the past.

Before proceeding to a description of the Deeds and Seals, it will be convenient to give a short account of the early history of the Sydney family and of the means by which the lands to which these deeds relate came into their possession. The original home of the Sydneys was a farm, which still bears their name, in the parish of Alfold, on the borders of Surrey and Sussex, about ten miles south of Guildford. The first member of the family of whom we have any knowledge is a John de Sydenie, who occurs as acquiring land on the south of Chiddingfold wood (a few miles west of Alfold) sometime in the reign of Edward I. He may be the John atte Sydney who occurs as witness to a deed in 1313. This John was probably the father or grandfather of a John atte Sydenye, son of John and Isabella, who with Gunnilda his wife held lands in Surrey and Sussex, part of which had come to him through his mother. His home is described as La Sydenye, and one of the deeds in which he is mentioned was executed there: these deeds are dated between 1331 and 1345. Nearly eighty years later, in 1420, a Nicholas Sedenye of Alfold gave to his daughter Alice lands in Cranlegh called ‘le Thondurslaghus’, which came to him at the death of Gunnilda, his mother. Though the interval is a little long, one may conjecture that he was a son of the John atte Sydenye of 1331 to 1345, and younger brother of the first William Sedenye, who in 1393 acquired a tenement called ‘le Rotlond’ in Shalford, near Guildford, and ten years later a share in the manor of Loseley. In 1408 there is mention of William, and his son William, in connexion with Rudgwick, just over the Sussex border. This second William is probably the father of William Sydenye, the younger, who appears in 1427, for in the next year Alice, daughter of William Sydeneye, the elder, married Arnold, son of Thomas Brocas. In 1435 we meet with William Sydeney, the elder, of Cranlegh, and William Sydeney, his son, of Sussex, who in 1445 is styled William Sydeney of Kingsham, a house on the south side of Chichester. William Sydeney of Cranlegh died on October 8, 1449. On August 15, 1451, William Sydeney of Kingsham executed at Baynards a deed providing for the descent of certain of his lands. He died about a year later, but certainly before October 1452. This William Sydney of Kingsham is the first person of any importance in the genealogy. Though the family had gradually acquired considerable estates in Surrey and Sussex, they were till about this time at the best but small country gentlemen. William Sydney of Cranlegh used a seal with a simple capital W.; his son was the first to use an armorial seal, showing the Sydney pheon, on the deed of August 15, 1451. As the heads of the Kingsham and Cranlegh family of Sydneys had been for fifty years named William, it is possible that the long-continued use of a seal with a capital W may have been the origin of the pheon.